Inheritance Tax Act 1984 section 240A

Underpayments: supplementary

Section 240A provides supplementary definitions of "careless" and "deliberate" behaviour for the purposes of HMRC's power to recover underpayments of inheritance tax under section 240.

• A loss of tax is brought about carelessly where a person fails to take reasonable care to avoid that loss.
• If a person (or someone acting on their behalf) discovers that information previously given to HMRC was inaccurate, failing to take reasonable steps to notify HMRC is treated as careless behaviour.
• A loss of tax is treated as brought about deliberately where it results from a deliberate inaccuracy in a document given to HMRC by or on behalf of the person concerned.
• These definitions determine which of the extended time limits in section 240 apply when HMRC seek to recover underpaid inheritance tax.